[meteorite-list] More evidence of building blocks of DNA in meteorites

From: MexicoDoug <mexicodoug_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 09 Aug 2011 14:01:30 -0400
Message-ID: <8CE24D58033A947-1730-161D3_at_webmail-m096.sysops.aol.com>

"maybe the physics involved in the impact with the atmosphere where the
responsibles for the creation of those nucleobases, and maybe those
nucleobases couldn't be found in meteors."

"It's known that carbonaceous chondrite material, plus water, plus high
velocity impact, can 'fuse' amino acids into polymers/proteins."

Hi Leo - those are interesting thoughts for a separate experiments.

In this case, the impact with / passage through the atmosphere would
likely not effect the formation of nucleotide bases. The reason (in
this case) is because: to prevent contamination with terrestrial
sources, virgin material is highly likely being tested from the
interior of the meteorites in the study. In the case of carbonaceous
chondrites, that material's temperature will not exceed the freezing
temperature (0 C = 32 F), until it starts warming up in the Sun on the
ground (and in parts of Antarctica, maybe never). Also the energy for
that caseis minimal since it is the free fall velocity only - for the
meteorites tested.

As for the "fusion" of amino acids to produce proteins during impact -
I hadn't heard of that. I just googled it and this paper showed up
which attempted to 'simulate' impacts and concluded that the peptide
chains are not formed, but rather cleaved, and some of the amino acids
were changed or decomposed:

"The fate of amino acids during simulated meteoritic impact"
Bertrand M, van der Gaast S, Vilas F, H?rz F, Haynes G, Chabin A, Brack
A, Westall F.

Abstract: Delivery of prebiotic molecules, such as amino acids and
peptides, in meteoritic/micrometeoritic materials to early Earth during
the first 500 million years is considered to be one of the main
processes by which the building blocks of life arrived on Earth. In
this context, we present a study in which the effects of impact shock
on amino acids and a peptide in artificial meteorites composed of
saponite clay were investigated. The samples were subjected to
pressures ranging from 12-28.9 GPa, which simulated impact velocities
of 2.4-5.8 km/s ...

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20041747

Any thoughts?

Kindest wishes
Doug





-----Original Message-----
From: Leoncio Cividanes ?lvarez <supeindesu at hotmail.com>
To: Meteorite list <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Tue, Aug 9, 2011 10:17 am
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] More evidence of building blocks of DNA
in meteorites



Well, what I've thinking about this is that the "can" could mean that
maybe the
physics involved in the impact with the atmosphere where the
responsibles for
the creation of those nucleobases, and maybe those nucleobases couldn't
be found
in meteors. It's known that carbonaceous chondrite material, plus
water, plus
high velocity impact, can 'fuse' amino acids into polymers/proteins.

It's just a personal thought...

Best regards,
Leo

----------------------------------------
> To: magbish3 at lowcountry.com; meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
> Date: Tue, 9 Aug 2011 01:58:28 -0400
> From: mexicodoug at aim.com
> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] More evidence of building blocks of DNA
in
meteorites
>
> "NASA Research Shows DNA Building Blocks Can Be Made in Space "
>
> Something about the title of the PR seems strange. If they found some
> DNA/RNA nucleotide bases, then it's not "can be made in space", it is
> "are made in space". If they didn't find any, then we are still with
> the "all the ingredients" are present, something which was already
> shown.
>
> Is the question "Did it happen here, under Miller-Urey type
> conditions?", or "Was the meteorite delivered from the Acme
Corporation
> in Fairfield, Mars, to Wile E. Coyote (Roadrunner cartoon character),
> "unpack carefully, to replicate life, just add water - Acme Inc."
>
> e.g., http://home.roadrunner.com/~tuco/looney/acme/dehydrated.html
>
> Kindest wishes
> Doug
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mal Bishop <magbish3 at lowcountry.com>
> To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
> Sent: Mon, Aug 8, 2011 9:15 pm
> Subject: [meteorite-list] More evidence of building blocks of DNA in
> meteorites
>
>
> Found this of interest:
>
> NASA Research Shows DNA Building Blocks Can Be Made in Space
>
> http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/news/releases/2011/11-60AR.html
>
> Mal
>
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Received on Tue 09 Aug 2011 02:01:30 PM PDT